Illuminated mailbox and house number



1943- A. J. LAMBERT ILLUMINATED MAIL BOX AND HO USE NUMBER Filed Dec.23, 1946 M m m m AQTHUE J. LAMB Em". BY Z Patented Nov. 2, 1948 UNl'l'EDamps? STATES PATENT GFFICE ILLUMINATED ivraitsox AND HOUSE NUMBER 2Claims.

This invention herein disclosed relates to an illuminated house fixtureexternally applied, and has for its principal object a fixture that ispro vided with means to easily and readily receive house numbersinserted therein for the identification of houses, and another meansassociated with first said means to contain mail, said fixture beingexternally applied adjacent outside doors, porches, garages, or anysuitable place where numbering of a house, store, or the like, isdesired.

Another object of this invention is to provide a casing having twocompartments, one above the other, the upper compartment having a frontwall which is open, and in which house numbers are distinctivelycarried, while the lower compartment is provided with a transparentwindow for observing the presence of mail.

A still further object is to employ opaque house numbers so that whencarried in the opening of the fixture, said numbers will be clearlydiscernible during the day as well as night.

A still further object is to provide a light bulb for the fixture thatis of a very low voltage type, and which may be continuously energizedday and night and still retain the cost of operation at a minimum, andfurthermore to position the light bulb in said upper compartmentdownwardly from the house numbers whereby diffusion or interminglingappearance of said numbers is eliminated, however if such light weredirectly in back of said numbers, the same would produce a bright spotto an observer and thus reducing its efficiency for displaying clear-cutnumbers.

A still further object is to construct a casing, wherein the lowercompartment for mail is forwardly positioned or offset with respect tocross section from the upper compartment, whereby an opening is providedbetween said lower compartment and structure to which the fixture issupported for the insertion of magazines, news- Fig. 4 is a front viewof one of the house numbers, illustrating the entire structure thereofmade from opaque material.

Fig. 5 is a modification of a house number having its projecting endsthereof transparent.

The purpose of this invention is to identify a house, store, or thelike, through the arrangement of clear-cut numbers, and associatetherewith a means for retaining mail, whereby the inconvenience of apostman in locating a selected house number during the delivery of mailis eliminated, and more particularly in obscure places and duringpartially darkened days or at night when little or no outside light ispresent. In my invention, the fixture is illuminated day and night andthus producing the numbers in a silhouette appearance at all times,while other wise should the light be turned out during a bright daythere is a possibility that the occupant of such house may not rememberto turn-on said light when darkness approaches.

The invention consists of a casing preferably made from aluminummaterial so that the same is light in weight, and furthermore made fromaluminum a smaller light bulb is required to illuminate the interior ofthe casing sufficiently due to the intensifying power of aluminum.

The casing has an upper and a lower compartment, the upper compartmentbeing for supportpapers, or such articles which are too bulky to beinserted through the mail compartment receiving slot.

These and other objects will hereinafter be more'fully explained,reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of thisspecification, and in which like characters will apply to like parts inthe different Views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a front view of the invention, parts removed for convenienceof illustration.

Fig. 2 is an end view of Fig. 1.

Fig.3. is a sectional view taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 1.

ing house numbers I, while the lower compartment is for mail deliveredby a postman. It will be seen in Fig. 3 that the number supportingcompartment is substantially rectangular in cross section and comprisesa bottom wall 2, a rear wall 3, a top wall 4, end walls 5, and a frontwall 6. The top wall 4 is inclined downwardly from the rear wall toprovide for drainage of rain water, while the front wall 6 has anopening the major area thereof and forming a rectangular elongated framefor supporting the said house numbersyi. The confronting side edges l ofthe frame have channels 8 formed therein a spaced distance to slidablyreceive projections A that are secured to the upper and lowerextremities of the house numbers. Said numbers are formed fromcomparatively thin material, but having suflicient width to produceclear-cut outlines when observed from a substantial distance.

The numbers and their projections as shown in Figs. 1 and 4 may be madefrom aluminum sheet material, which is opaque, and the numbersthemselves exclusive of the projections may be painted black whereby thenumbers will be distinctively displayed in the day time. The numbers, ifso desired, may be constructed from plastic material as shown in Fig. 5,in which case,

a the number portion 9 is made opaque while the projections it aretransparent. In the latter arrangement, the numbers will be clearlydefined at the upper and lower extremities thereof by reason of theopaque and transparent portions, especially during the night when thetransparent projecting ends are illuminated. It will be noted that theprojecting ends of the numbers may also be formed by diverging its Sideedges of the projections from the number portion to increase thecarrying capacity of the projections when positioned in the channels ofthe frame.

To insert the numbers in the channels, the projections are placed intheir respective notches II that are formed by removing a portion of thefront leg of the channels as shown in Fig. 1. The notches are placedintermedially of the side edges of the frame, and when enstalling thenumbers, the same are moved from the notches each way and equally spacedin the opening of the frame.

To intensify the numbers during obscured days, or at night, there isprovided a light bulb 82 carried by a socket it, which is positioned inthe bottom wall of the upper compartment and insulated therefrom by arubber grommet it as shown in Fig. 3. It will be understood that thelight bulb is of a very low voltage type, and being preferably suppliedfrom the house current which is reduced to said bulb by any suitabletransformer means not shown in the drawing. By the use of a bulb asabove described, the same can be left energized day and night as thecost of operation is comparatively small.

The li ht bulb i2 as shown in Fig. 3 is positioned rearwardly of thelower member of the frame and is not noticed by observers as said bulbis positioned downwardly from the numbers with respect to a horizontalplane, but being capable of brightening up the interior of thecompartment and presenting the numbers in a silhouette appearance, andas the numbers are supported in the open, the distinctiveness thereof isnot diflused by any means.

The mail compartment is downwardly and forwardly positioned from saidnumber carrying compartment. Said mail compartment comprises a rear walliii, a slidable bottom it, an inclined top wall ll, end walls 58, and afront wall it, which is open the major area thereof, said opening beingclosed by a transparent window 2% that is inserted by pressing the sameinwardly to seat against a peripheral flange 2!. Said transparent windowis provided as visual means into the mail compartment as to the presenceof mail therein. The inclined top wall ll is provided with an elongatedslot 22 through which letters, or the like, are inserted to enter themail compartment. Positioned on the upper side of ie slot is a ledge 23running the full length of said slot and extending a short distancetherefrom at its ends as means to carry away rain water that may bedeposited thereon from the upper compartment. Openings 2t and 25 areprovided for the upper and lower compartments, respectively, fordrainage of moisture from said compartments.

The bottom It of the mail compartment is slidably carried in groovesformed in the end walls of said compartment as shown in Fig. 1, andfurthermore said bottom resting on inturned flanges 26 integrally formedon the end walls. Said bottom has a tongue 2? as manipulating means forthe bottom, said bottom being stopped in its extreme inward and outwardmovements by pins 4 2S downwardly protruding from the bottom adjacentthe ends thereof, said pins engaging against a bottom portion 29 of thecompartment in the inward movement of the bottom, and against extensions38 of said flanges 26 in an outward movement.

As shown in Fig. 3, the said compartments are integrally connected witheach other but may be removably secured if so desired, said lowercompartment having a rearward extension 3! to support the lowerextremity of the mail compartment rigidly to a structure through themedium of screws 32 engaging through car 33 integrally formed on saidextension, while the upper compartment is secured to the structure byscrews 3 extending through the rear wall of said compartment. It will beseen that the lower compartment is offset forwardly from the uppercompartment to provide an opening 35 between the rear wall of said lowercompartment and structure to which the fixture is attached, said opening35 being for receiving newspapers, magazines, or other articles toobulky to enter through the mail receiving slot of said lowercompartment.

To provide for a small amount of illumination which may be necessary insaid mail compartment, there is provided, a slot 35 communicating withboth compartments, whereby indirect illumination will be produced insaid mail compartment which is convenient when the occupant of the houseis observing the compartment for while the letter receiving slot will beilluminated from end to end thereof to locate the slot during partiallydarkened days or at night and being for the convenience of the postman.

While I have shown the structure s, ecifically, I do not wish to beconfined to such exact structure as the same may be varied with respectto contour, proportion, and thickness of material, as well as othermodifications which may be made as lie within the scope of the appendedclaims.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. In an illuminated house fixture of the class described comprising acasing composed of an upper compartment and a lower compartment, theupper compartment having an open front providing a rectangular frame,opaque numbers and means to support the same in the opening of saidframe, a light producing element positioned in the upper compartment andbeing below said numbers for illumination of said upper compartment,there being a slot between said compart ments and communicatingtherewith for indirect illumination of said lower compartment, and atransparent window in the front of said lower compartment as visualmeans for the presence of mail in said compartment.

2. In an illuminated house fixture of the class described, a casingbeing subdivided into an upper compartment and a lower compartment, saidlower compartment being positioned forwardly from said upper compartmentto provide a space for retaining articles between said lower compartmentand structure to which the fixture is attached, said lower compartmenthaving a slot for the insertion of mail into said compartment, the uppercompartment having an open front with opaque numbers carried therein, alight bulb positioned within the upper compartment to illuminate theinterior of said compartment, said casing having means to permitindirect illumination into id lower compartment from the uppercompartment, rneans formed on the UNITED STATES PATENTS lower extremlt-yof the casmg to secure the same to the said structure, screws extendingthrough Number Name Date said means and screws extending through a wall4$0,255 m er Aug. 9, 1892 of the upper compartment for attaching thefix- 5 1.5551444 Greenbelg June 1913 ture to said tructura Thompson eta1. Feb. 11,

ARTHUR J. LAMBERT. ,2 Landgraf Jan. 13, 1 1

2,382,092 Onos Aug. 14, 1945 REFERENCES CITED

